building

EQNL – Tower of Orthanc – Isengard

EQNL-Orthanc-01

A dark overlord commanded that a certain tower be constructed… an so it has been done!

At the launch of the new biomes about a week ago I took the opportunity to find a new spot on a Tundra styled zone. I cleared the claims from the last ‘Castle on a Cloud’ project and started in on this one. It took quite a bit longer than I expected but the exterior model is now complete and the project is likely wrapped up for me at this point.

EQNL-Orthanc-Overview

This is mostly based on the Lord of the Rings movie version of the tower model. It’s about 344 voxels high and spans much of two claims high. The base is about 108×108 voxels. With those dimensions it’s technically between a 50% and 80% scale model but still looks scaled reasonably when you walk in, stand on the balcony above the entrance or stand up top.

I built one of the four columns and mostly copied from there to create the rest of the tower. Some of the stitching of the four pieces together and some detail work had to be done separately. Much of the cap was done all at once.

I did have a problem after first building about 80% of one of the towers and then trying to copy, not realizing that the entire column needs to slope toward the center as well as diminish in cross-section as it rose. That forced some rework.

Took about twice as long as I would have expected but I’m pretty happy with the results. Let me know if you have any questions or comments. It’s on Liberation – Tunnel, north east of the hub if you’d like to visit. Enjoy!

EQNL – Castle for Cossette

EQNL - Cloud Castle 3I wanted to take the next steps in working with stone and some traditional castle type shapes. With cylinders, domes and arches worked out I decided to put together a small castle/keep arrangement and try a few of them together.

I also was looking for a unique location for the castle and after some playing with the “stucco” texture came up with something that looked like a piece of a cloud. Putting the two together I decided to put up a “Castle on a Cloud” (thanks Les Misérables.) The final piece was some sort of connector to the ground and what better way to climb up into the clouds than a beanstalk!

Here’s where it stands, rough structure, all dirt/stone:

EQNL - Cloud Castle 8 EQNL - Cloud Castle 7 EQNL - Cloud Castle 6 EQNL - Cloud Castle 5 EQNL - Cloud Castle 4 EQNL - Cloud Castle 3 EQNL - Cloud Castle 2 EQNL - Cloud Castle 1

This is probably as far as I’ll take it at this point and will likely be resetting the claim and going after some other brainstorm in the next day or two. If anyone would like a quick tour before demolition or has any questions let me know here or on Twitter. (Claim is on Serenity – Ravine @ 1:00 from hub and 40% of the way toward the rim.)

Keep Calm and Build On